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In considering Turkey’s application for membership, the European Union has identified a number of stumbling blocks. Among them is Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which criminalizes “insulting Turkishness” and is often used to prosecute writers and journalists. Bob traveled to Istanbul this month and brought back this report on Turkey’s commitment to freedom of expression.
Election-night graphics had barely faded from TV screens before the media rushed in to explain what the vote meant. One narrative was that the Republican base turned against its party because it felt betrayed. Another was that the electorate was registering its disgust with the war. But Time.com Washington editor Ana Marie Cox tells Bob that many of those explanations are, in fact, myths.
One constituency that will benefit from the Democratic takeover of Congress is journalists. At least that’s what National Journal columnist William Powers says. It’s not that Dems appeal to journalists’ own sympathies exactly, but that they’re prone to infighting and hijinks, both of which make for good news copy. And, he tells Brooke, journalists will go to great lengths to prove that they’re not lapdogs of the left.
Listeners weigh in with reactions to Bob's interview last week with Lou Dobbs.
On November 10, 1898, a mob of white supremacists ransacked the city of Wilmington, North Carolina, and toppled its biracial government. 108 years later, The Charolotte Observer and Raleigh’s News & Observer are apologizing for their role in fomenting the violence. Duke historian Tim Tyson tells Bob how newspapers turned neighbor against neighbor and helped usher in Jim Crow.
Aficionados of partisan media -- left and right -- are all familiar with the initials MSM. For the past few years, both sides have been using the three letters to stand in for everything that is lame about their establishment counterparts. Last year, Brooke spoke with NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen about the new meanings and resonances of the phrase "mainstream media."
Increasingly, print journalists are joining TV's ranks of talking heads. Punditry comes easy to some reporters. But not everybody is born to bloviate. And so one Washington P.R. firm is training journalists with little or no TV experience for their star turns as pundits. OTM's John Solomon attended one class to see if he had what it takes.
Highlights from Past Shows
Lou Dobbs has his story, and he’s sticking to it. Every evening, the host of CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight features reports under headings like “Broken Borders” and “War on the Middle Class.” And people are responding – in the past three years, his audience has skyrocketed. Dobbs makes no apologies for his strong viewpoints on illegal immigration. But what’s such an outspoken advocate doing behind CNN’s anchor’s desk? Bob puts the question to Dobbs.
One of the biggest winners of this week’s electoral sea-change is the Speaker-of-the-House-elect, Nancy Pelosi. As it stands now, the San Francisco Democrat will become the highest-ranking woman in the history of American politics. San Francisco Chronicle correspondent Ed Epstein joins Brooke to discuss the popular image of Nancy Pelosi, and how tied up it is with the mythology of her hometown.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
